They Died with Their Boots on, Custer's Last Stand

The Significance of the Last Stand

I. Fictionalizing History

Relating history of past to history of present

[1] What do historians create with the history they account? History is a story that never ends. The events of the present in essence have already happened in the past. Historians try to make sense of the present by deconstructing the past. Only through analysis of the past can one understand the present. I remember playing cowboys and Indians as a child. I would always play the part of the cowboys, and consequently the cowboys always won. At the end of my day's adventure I went to my parents to tell them of my conquest against the Indians. I made certain to include every detail of the battle -- from first charge to last saber stroke. History was made that day in my backyard with the green figurine--soldier on horseback--whose defeat of the Indian nemesis forces was both courageous and honorable.

[2] Past history is connected to the occurrences of the present. History repeats itself as present action gains significance from past events. President Clinton was recently impeached. To date he is the first President to receive this less-than-honorable acclaim. In my opinion, no critical repercussions resulted. The only reason why Clinton's impeachment was important was because it was the first such instance in our nation's history. If President Nixon had not resigned and had been impeached and removed from office, the importance of Clinton's impeachment would have appeared far less important in retrospect. Because of the past history of our nation, the present history became significant.

II. The Purpose of They Died With Their Boots On

Recreation of American Cause 1876

[3] American film demonstrates history as narrative. The historical classic They Died With Their Boots On is a recreation of the history of General George Armstrong Custer's life. This movie adds to the already prevalent myth of the Boy General. The movie was released in 1941, when Germany, under Adolf Hitler, had control of "Fortress Europe," and threatened to end democracy as the world knew it. The United States prepared to defend democracy in total war. American soldiers needed a cause to die for. The most important aspect They Died With Their Boots On created was a reason for United States Soldiers to die, fighting for the American cause.

[4] To understand the ramifications this movie had on the existing nation of the time and to understand the American Cause Custer taught us to die for, Custer's life must be examined.

III. The Life of a General

Childhood

[5] George Armstrong Custer was born on December 5th, 1839, in a small hamlet of New Rumley, Ohio, to Emanuel Henry and his second wife, Maria W. K. Custer. His father Emanuel was a blacksmith who came from a prosperous military heritage--his grandfather, also named Emanuel, came from Hesse in the Germanies around the middle of the eighteenth century and fought in the Revolutionary war. This was a fact proudly remembered by the family. Custer's mother, Maria Ward, was widowed in 1835, and remarried Emanuel Henry to produce two children who died in infancy before George Armstrong was born.

[6] The Custer's produced five children: George, Nevin, Thomas, Boston, and Margaret. George was understandably the favorite of both mother and father from birth. His parents called him "Autie," after his own childhood efforts to pronounce his middle name. Tom, the third born, developed a close relationship with his big brother--imitating and admiring George's actions. Tom followed George all the way into the Battle of Little Bighorn--Tom was a soldier under his big brother's command. Eventually the brother that Tom imitated and admired would lead him to death.

[7] George Armstrong Custer was a born militarist. When Autie was four he took a trip to the dentist to get a tooth removed. Little Autie, standing alongside his father, had been very brave while getting his tooth pulled. On the long walk home he exclaimed to his father, "Father, you and me can whip all the Whigs in Ohio!" Whether or not the dentist was a Whig is beside the point, Custer was always confident. His father, Emanuel, drilled with the local militia during the Mexican war--this military coloring rubbed off on Autie in early life. Autie surprised the family one day by declaiming a climactic line from Addison's Cato: "My voice is still for war!"

[8] George A. Custer was undoubtedly intelligent, but he was a careless and undisciplined student in grade school, getting by, one supposes, by applying himself only when it was necessary. These traits stayed with him all the way to West Point and beyond.

West Point

[9] Custer was, to say the least, not the model cadet. His most serious difficulties were caused by his deportment. A cadet could be expelled for receiving one hundred demerits in a period of a year. Demerits were given for any reason, mostly for minor infractions. Cadet Custer was known to fail to have a neat appearance on parade, have an untidy room, take inadequate care of equipment, have food in his room, and be tardy for classes, as well as arriving late for morning report. Custer regularly accumulated more than ninety demerits a year. Custer's deportment did not improve during his four years at West Point; in his last half-year he received ninety-seven demerits. Custer always walked the line of failure; in the case of his West Point graduation, he kicked up dust but finished the course.

Civil War Hero

[10] In an Army where the ruling virtue was discipline bordering on timid behavior toward superiors, Custer's belligerence excelled his presence and earned him a series of commendations. On May 5th, 1862, he entered an engagement near Williamsburg, accompanying Brigadier General Winfield S. Hancock as a volunteer aide. Charging forward to inspire rushing Federal infantry, he single-handedly captured six rebels and a large silk flag--the first such colors taken by the Army of the Potomac. Twenty days later, after a daring morning reconnaissance to the south side of the Chickahominy, he led a raiding party back across the river to overrun an enemy picket post in the vicinity. Lt. Custer was the first to cross the